MIT Sloan School of Management. Massachusetts Institute of Technology reclaimed the No. 1 spot in Forbes’ 2025–2026 America’s Top Colleges ranking.
After holding the top spot for two years, Princeton University fell to No. 3 on Forbes’ 2025–2026 America’s Top Colleges ranking released Tuesday (August 26).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology reclaimed the crown, acing all of Forbes’ 14 metrics measuring student educational, financial and career outcomes.
Forbes’ annual ranking of 500 colleges across the U.S. has all the familiar names at the top of the list: Columbia University surged to No. 2 despite reputational challenges following last year’s campus protests and a controversial settlement with the Trump administration. After Princeton, Stanford University came in at No. 4 while the University of California–Berkeley was the highest-ranked public university at No. 5.
Private universities dominate the top of Forbes’ list, but two public University of California campuses broke the top 15. Williams College, the so-called “Little Ivy,” also landed in the top 10.
Forbes’ Top 15 Colleges In America |
||||||
2025 Rank |
Name |
State |
Type |
Avg. Grant Aid |
Avg. Debt |
Median 20-year Salary |
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MA | Private | $58,331 | $12,071 | $196,900 |
| 2 | Columbia University | NY | Private | $65,173 | $14,737 | $159,700 |
| 3 | Princeton University | NJ | Private | $60,629 | $7,667 | $194,100 |
| 4 | Stanford University | CA | Private | $64,164 | $14,075 | $181,200 |
| 5 | University of California, Berkeley | CA | Public | $25,951 | $6,529 | $170,100 |
| 6 | Harvard University | MA | Private | $64,942 | $8,729 | $177,400 |
| 7 | Williams College | MA | Private | $64,176 | $8,171 | $173,900 |
| 8 | Johns Hopkins University | MD | Private | $58,456 | $10,600 | $146,200 |
| 9 | Yale University | CT | Private | $59,076 | $5,256 | $171,900 |
| 10 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Private | $59,721 | $13,512 | $178,300 |
| 11 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Private | $57,723 | $11,345 | $151,500 |
| 12 | Rice University | TX | Private | $53,526 | $10,083 | $150,600 |
| 13 | University of Chicago | IL | Private | $58,877 | $13,890 | $151,000 |
| 14 | Cornell University | NY | Private | $56,741 | $8,574 | $158,600 |
| 15 | University of California, Los Angeles | CA | Public | $22,441 | $6,406 | $149,200 |
FORBES’ TOP UNDERGRAD B-SCHOOLS
Forbes’ list is a university-wide ranking, not broken down by specific majors. Many of the very top schools like Princeton or Stanford either don’t have undergraduate business majors or only house business at the graduate level.
Still, the rankings give prospective business majors valuable context. The strength of a host university can shape resources, recruiting pipelines, alumni networks, and financial aid available to students in its business program.
Several of the top undergraduate business schools from Poets&Quants’ 2025 ranking of Best Undergraduate Business Schools are housed in universities that also placed highly in Forbes’ list.
2025 P&Q Rank |
University (B-School) |
Forbes 2025 Rank |
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 10 |
| 2 | Cornell University (Dyson SC Johnson) | 14 |
| 3 | University of Southern California (Marshall) | 28 |
| 4 | University of Virginia (McIntire) | 34 |
| 4 | Georgetown University (McDonough) | 41 |
| 5 | New York University (Stern) | 49 |
| 6 | Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | 25 |
| 7 | University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | 33 |
| 8 | Emory University (Goizueta) | 27 |
| 9 | University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) | 35 |
| 10 | Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | 43 |
CHOOSING A SCHOOL IN TRUMP’S AMERICA
Forbes framed this year’s results against unprecedented pressures facing U.S. higher education. In fact, it added a new story to its ranking package: How To Choose A College In Trump’s America.
“Over the past eight months, President Donald Trump, his administration and Congressional Republicans have waged financial and cultural war on higher education—freezing research funds, punishing efforts at campus diversity, constricting the flow of foreign students, raising the tax on some college endowments and curbing the generosity of student loan programs,” write Forbes editors Emma Whitford and Janet Novack.
From cuts to federal research funding to limits on student visas and attacks on diversity programs, families are weighing new factors in the college decision process. College counselors report that politics are influencing choices in ways not seen before.
Forbes advises students to double down on metrics that still matter. School seekers should look at return on investment – how quickly graduates can recoup their college costs through salaries – and at institutions that deliver strong results regardless of prestige.
One important caveat for 2025: Families should ask target universities whether the programs they care most about will even exist in four years. New federal budget cuts and state-level mandates are forcing some universities to close or consolidate degree programs, particularly in the humanities and social sciences.
This could give smaller colleges an edge, Forbes says. Without large graduate research operations to subsidize, liberal arts colleges may be better positioned to weather the turmoil.
“The case for the liberal arts colleges, to me, is stronger than ever,” one counselor told Forbes.
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